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Building community
$5.99

Chapter 20 of the New Urbanism Best Practices Guide

Author Douglas E. Morris has argued that loneliness, depression, violence, and other individual or societal troubles can be traced at least partly to the physical breakdown of community. This chapter argues that physical structure does not determine how we live, but it does influence behavior and affect people’s well-being. Evidence is presented from Harbor Town in Memphis, Celebration in Florida, Orenco Station in Oregon, Kentlands in Maryland, and elsewhere.

'Cohousing' bolsters new urban neighborhoods
$2.99

New Urban News Article with images and sidebar, 6/1/2005
An alternative to the solitary household finds a place in TND projects.
Cohousing communities — developments whose residents share dining facilities, gardens, recreation space, and other amenities — have cropped up in 80 locations in the US since 1991, when the first such project, containing 26 townhouses and community gathering places, was built on a 2.9-acre plot in Davis, California. Now, as the cohousing movement learns how to organize projects faster, cohousing is becoming an increasingly promising option for new urban developments.

Turning alleys into neighborhood spaces
$2.99

New Urban News Article with images, 1/1/2009
Large American cities increasingly are trying to improve the aesthetics, environmental performance, or sociability of their alleys.
In 2007 the City of Chicago issued “The Chicago Green Alley Handbook,” which is aimed at installing permeable paving, introducing planting, and relieving flooding along many of the city’s approximately 1,900 miles of public alleys.

New urban community promotes social networks and walking
$2.99

New Urban News Article with image and tables, 9/1/2009
A study of Orenco Station, a large traditional neighborhood development in Hillsboro, Oregon, backs claims that new urban design fosters physical activity and adds to the richness of community life.